What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy (also written as
Homoeopathy) is the system of medicine which works on the
principle of 'like cures like' (Similia Similibus Curanter).
This system of holistic healing was founded by Dr.Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician. Hahnemann, who was translating
the a book on the medicinal properties of drugs, was reading the
properties of the medicine Cinchona, when he read that
Cinchona cures malaria, because of its bitter taste. Hahnemann
was surprised by this statement and when he read on, he found a
footnote which said that cinchona poisoning leads to
malaria-like symptoms. This set him thinking and he decided to
test the medicine of himself. He experienced the symptoms of
malaria, by repeatedly taking the Cinchona medicine and after
continuing his experiments found that those medicines which
cause disease-like symptoms in healthy individuals are capable
of curing the diseased individuals. So, homeopathy relies on the
Materia Medica - a book containing the properties of medicines,
properties which have been proved on healthy individuals.
Homeopathic doctors rely on the Materia Medica as the authority
for it contains not empty theories, but details of symptoms
which were experienced by hundreds of provers. It is thus a
system based on sound principles and as a result of solid
experiments.
How does Homeopathy work ?
The theory behind the working of homeopathy is that the body
of every human being contains a vital force within the body
which regulates the functioning of the body. Due to reasons such
as heredity, environmental conditions, stress etc, this vital
force weaken causing disease. So, disease is nothing but a
complex of certain symptoms observed in the human body. The
homeopathic physician make a study of not only the symptoms the
patient is complaining of, but of the entire patient himself.
This leads to a picture of the patient. The physician then
prescribes homeopathic medicine, which matches this picture.
Now, the medicine so prescribed would have caused the same
symptoms in healthy person during 'drug proving'. This medicine
is given in a highly diluted dose, so as to prevent side
effects. This minute dose, creates a similar disorder in the
vital force and provokes the vital force to react to the
symptoms and overcome. (The same system is used in vaccines,
where vaccination against small-pox is done by injecting the
small-pox disease-causing organism, so that the body can build
up its natural immunity
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